For over fifty years, electricity from nuclear energy has been generated by large-scale power plants utilizing nuclear reactors as the energy source to heat coolant in the reactor that, directly or indirectly, drives a turbine that generates electricity. Such power generation systems typically use the conversion of nuclear energy to thermal energy to generate electricity. Fuel assemblies containing fissile material are placed within the reactor core and coolant flows through the reactor core, where the heat generated by the individual fuel assemblies is transferred to the coolant. In one common commercial power generation system—known as a pressurized water reactor system—the nuclear-heated primary coolant is directed through at least one heat transfer apparatus (e.g., a heat exchanger, steam generator and piping) in which the thermal energy of the heated coolant is transferred to a secondary coolant which is then used to drive the turbine while the reactor coolant, now cooled, is pumped back to the reactor core in a closed loop coolant system.
Applicant has identified a number of deficiencies and problems associated with conventional nuclear power generating systems. Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, many of these identified problems have been solved by developing solutions that are included in embodiments of the present invention, many examples of which are described in detail herein.